Hugh Jackman News

Samantha Barks is set to play Eponine in the film version of Les Miserables - the role she played at the 25th anniversary concert.

Actor George Blagden has joined the star-studded cast of the upcoming LES MISÉRABLES film adaptation as Grantaire, reports Variety today.

USA co-presidents Chris McCumber and Jeff Wachtel today announced the pickup of the television event series POLITICAL ANIMALS. From acclaimed producers Greg Berlanti and Laurence Mark, the six-hour drama, produced by Warner Horizon Television, is slated for summer 2012.

On Friday, I had the exceptional honor of talking to the most successful composer in the world, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, all about the unprecedented new HD film version of his thrilling new musical coming to movie theaters in February, a continuation of the story begun in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, titled LOVE NEVER DIES. In addition to outlining the impossibly detailed process of bringing a production as complex as the Simon Phillips Australian staging of LOVE NEVER DIES to the big screen, we also discuss the genesis of the show and what an immense achievement it is to now have the original musical - in the form of the 25th anniversary Royal Albert Hall production of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA - as well as the sequel - LOVE NEVER DIES - committed to celluloid, mere months apart. Also, 2012 is certainly the year of the Lord on Broadway thanks to new revivals of two of his most beloved musicals, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and EVITA (the latter starring Ricky Martin), as well as the 10,000th performance of PHANTOM on Broadway. Plus, Lloyd Webber clues us in on which musical of his he would like to film next - SUNSET BOULVEVARD, with either Madonna or original Tony-winning star Glenn Close - and he also elaborates on the indescribable allure of the Phantom legend, now, nearly thirty years after the original show's debut and expresses his enthusiasm for the revolutionary new age of theatre-on-film we are experiencing now - all of that and much, much more!

Este año, en la esperada versión cinematográfica de Los Miserables, Colm Wilkinson - que estrenó el espectáculo en octubre de 1985 como Jean Valjean - y Frances Ruffelle - la Eponine original - participarán en la película protagonizada por Hugh Jackman y Samantha Barks que interpretarán esos papeles respectivamente.

Les Misérables originally opened in London at the Barbican Theatre on 8 October 1985, transferred to the Palace Theatre on 4 December 1985 and moved to its current home at the Queen's Theatre on 3 April 2004. When the show opened, it featured Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean and Frances Ruffelle as Eponine.

BECOMING CHAPLIN, a new musical depicting the life of film icon Charlie Chaplin, with music and lyrics by Christopher Curtis and book by three-time Tony Award-winner Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray) and Christopher Curtis, will open on Broadway in the 2012-2013 season. Acclaimed director/choreographer Warren Carlyle (Finian's Rainbow, Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway) directs and choreographs the production. Broadway theatre, casting, additional creative team and dates to be announced.

Argentinian star Gerónimo Rauch, who is currently playing Jean Valjean at BTM in the Spanish production of Les Misérables in Barcelona, will repeat the role in the London production starting June 18th.

FELA! will play the Academy of Music for a limited engagement March 20 - March 25 as part of the Broadway Season, presented by The Kimmel Center and The Shubert Organization.

Earlier this month, BWW reported first that country songstress Taylor Swift will play Eponine in the upcoming LES MISERABLES film, and though an official casting announcement has not yet been made, it seems that Swift is indeed a part of the cast. According to recent published reports, Swift is currently in rehearsals for the movie London.

According to published reports, Broadway favorite Hugh Jackman and Olivia Newton-John are supporting the Australian Marriage Equality organization. Representative Alex Greenwich commented, 'Australians admire celebrities like Olivia Newton-John and Hugh Jackman because they reflect our values of tolerance and a fair go for all, values which they are reminding us apply just as much to same-sex couples as to other Australians.'

BETTY WHITE'S 90th BIRTHDAY Special drew NBC's biggest overall audience in the time period, excluding Olympics, since February 18, 2008, on Monday. As a result, the network will be airing an encore broadcast of both the special and White's new reality series, 'Betty White's Off Their Rockers' this Saturday, January 21st.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow, Saturday January 21, to the general public for William Shatner's Broadway show SHATNER'S WORLD: WE JUST LIVE IN IT at www.telecharge.com. Producers also announced the show's creative team and student ticket policy.

BETTY WHITE'S 90th BIRTHDAY Special drew NBC's biggest overall audience in the time period, excluding Olympics, since February 18, 2008, on Monday. As a result, the network will be airing an encore broadcast of both the special and White's new reality series, 'Betty White's Off Their Rockers' this Saturday, January 21st.

While announced in multiple spots online last month, the ink is now dry on his contract and Broadway star Aaron Tveit is now officially Enjolras in the upcoming film of LES MISERABLES.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (The Rep) continues its 2011-2012 Studio Theatre series with A Steady Rain by Keith Huff.

The producers of the musical SPIDER-MAN Turn Off the Dark today filed an answer and countersuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Tuesday against Julie Taymor and her company, LOH, Inc. The producers' answer responds to the complaint that Taymor and LOH filed on November 8, 2011, in which they assert that the current version of the musical infringes Taymor's alleged copyrights and also raise certain contractual and state law claims, including a claim seeking to bar the producers from bringing SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark to non-Broadway venues.

Ellen Degeneres, Morgan Freeman, Tina Fey, Ray Romano, Seth Meyers and Tracy Morgan joined the star-studded line-up paying tribute to one of the world's most beloved entertainers last night on NBC's Betty White'S 90th BIRTHDAY: A Tribute to America's Golden Girl.

A long-standing opening night tradition on the Great White Way, the fabled Gypsy Robe is bestowed upon a veteran Broadway chorus member for each opening production. In what has now become a theatrical ritual, originating on Broadway 60 years ago, the latest receipient was THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS cast member J.D. Webster at the Richard Rogers Theatre in New York City.

After an intense internal auditing process, the results are in for the 2011 Toronto Awards. This year's awards broke traffic records with more than 12,000 votes and we couldn't be more excited to announce the 2011 BroadwayWorld Toronto Award winners! Also breaking records, the Broadway-bound production of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR has set a new BWW Awards record, winning a whopping 11 awards.